In a battle of the top-ranked teams in the second edition of the Victoria Series, the UAE could not have asked for a better time to have a full-strength side in Lugogo following the arrival of their Fairbreak trio that included the ICC Associate Female cricketer of 2022 Esha Rohit Oza.

The script of the day started well for the UAE, who won the toss and opted to bat, putting on the highest score of the tournament of 138 for 5 in 20 overs, mainly off the bats of Kavisha's 44 off 42 balls, Chaya Mughal's 30 off 28 balls and a late blitz from Kushi Mohan Sharma getting 22 of 12 balls.

That highest score from UAE lasted precisely 68 minutes as Tanzania strolled home comfortably for the loss of just three wickets in significantly just over 17 overs.

In this run feast of full entertainment for the neutral fans, the difference in class was in the opening stands of the two teams with the Tanzanian combination of youth in Saud, who got 40 off 38.

The experience of Captain Fatima Kibasu, who scored 37 off 28, obliterated and made a mockery of the UAE score by scoring 54 in the power play. This stand was only broken after 74 runs.

If there were ever lessons for teams to take from the high standard of this game, it was the statistical data that all 5 Tanzania batters scored at a strike rate of at least 100% - that is a mark of a well-oiled machine alive to the realities of the modern T20 game.

The afternoon fixture, expected to be another mouth-watering one between Kenya and Rwanda, did not leave up to the expectation.

Still, fortunately for Rwanda, they were on the right side of what turned out to be an easy fixture for them, winning by a mammoth 47 runs off the back of yet another fantastic all-round effort from Henriette Ishimwe, who went on to be adjudged Player of the match.

Rwandan batters ranked highly in resource utilisation in a reduced game as they only allowed 30 dot balls out of the allotted 84 in the 14-over match, giving them a resource utilisation rate of 64% which will come as a big positive to Coach Leonard Nyamburu and his charges.

The worry for Kenya is not only that they lost a game they needed to win to stay alive in the tournament and went on to concede 20 T20 ranking points to a team hot on their heels, but even worse, they lost five wickets for ten runs between 31-41 and failed to bat out there 84 balls.

A bitter-sweet tale of contrasting resource utilisation from the two teams. Our prayers and best recovery wishes go out to Daisy Wairimu, who suffered what looked like a nasty injury.

Tanzania versus Kenya

This a case of two teams with contrasting fortunes as Tanzania has announced their arrival in their first-ever appearance in the Victoria Series by comprehensively knocking over the top-ranked team.

Kenya is yet to pick up a victory and is a player short due to injury should be nothing short of ordinary proceedings for Tanzania, who will walk into this fixture as runaway favourites.

Uganda v UAE

The Victoria Pearls return into action against a team that has just lost and cannot afford any other slip-ups.

In the former, you find a very confident team that has quickly adapted to the requisite attacking brand of cricket following the evolution of modern T20.

Still, in the latter, you find a well-drilled team hungry to get their campaign back on track, as this looks like a potential semi-final shoot-out for a place in Sunday's final alongside Tanzania.

Matchups tomorrow presents to the neutral fans will be the fast fiery, lightning pace of Irene Alumo up against the swinging blade of Esha Rohit Oza.

Another titanic battle to look forward to will be Mahesh's leg breaks up against the big-hitting Ugandan mid-order batters.

For now, the most significant prayer for all stakeholders of the Victoria Series season should be for the rain to stay away and for the gift of clear skies to allow us a great sighting of some rollercoaster T20 women's cricket.